Keeping Yourself Top of Mind

April 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment
no1

One of the greatest challenges faced is constantly being able to keep yourself top of mind to those you would like to connect with, work with or do business with. Due to the vastness of the online world, keeping your personal brand on the minds of your audience takes great skill and employing the right techniques. Get under the spotlight First of all, you need to know where the limelight is at the moment, because that’s where you want to be. The ideal method is to utilize keyword searches to uncover new trends, primarily through social sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Google+. These sites constantly update the latest information and the hottest topics being discussed. You’ll have to do a round-up of the news from around the web. After that, consider what topics the industry leaders are covering at the moment and how you fit into those emerging trends. Consider what unique experiences you have that would blend with such trends. Can you apply your brand to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Branding for Careers, Personal Branding For Entrepreneurs, Personal Branding Trends, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

People Do Business with People – Still

April 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
IMG_3591

With all the technological advances the modern world has to offer (mobile Internet, social networking, and even the classic email list), brands often find themselves focused on a power screen, working to improve their online statistic numbers- rather than the people and individuals that make up those statistics. What businesses should realize though, is that each one of those individuals in the online world is a person, and it is with people that you do business with, regardless of the medium chosen to deliver the message to them. Connecting with business relationships First of all, it’s essential that any brand focus its efforts on making connections with the right networks. With social and other online networking tools, it’s easy to get caught up talking with just about everyone. However, most of those conversations don’t offer the valuable connections your brand needs to succeed. Focusing your efforts on specific groups and individuals will allow you to develop … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Branding Trends, Social Media Tagged With: , , , ,

Trend #10: Video – Personal Branding Trends for 2013

April 8, 2013 by 1 Comment
picture of a movie set clapboard

I have been touting the importance of video as a personal branding tool non-stop for the last three years, and its time has come. Creating, posting, sharing, and promoting your videos has become extremely easy. For example, until just a few weeks ago, it was a challenge getting video into your LinkedIn profile using SlideShare (owned by LinkedIN) or Behance. Now, you can just click on the video symbol while editing your profile, provide the web address of your video and presto: embedded video. Every aspect of creating and using video has become much easier! Whether real-time, ad-hoc, or studio produced, there was always some roadblock to using video. That’s no longer the case. Virtually every computer and tablet comes with a video camera. Google+ Hangouts make real-time group video conferences a snap. Services from videoBIO allow you to quickly create, edit and post professional videos from your home or office. They also offer a service that enables you to produce videos and embed … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Branding Quick Tips, Personal Branding Trends Tagged With: , ,

Look Up and Face Word of Mouth

April 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
businessman on smartphone

Smartphones have become a great asset to every individual. Whether they’re building a small business or shopping on their favorite site, these devices allow people to stay connected in the most opportune ways. The smartphone relationship Unfortunately, this has resulted in a side effect that isn’t so greatly appreciated. For many, the smartphone has become the only gateway for communication. Calls? Texts? Emails? Social network updates? All these things become a priority, even when in the company of others. And the trouble here is that most users aren’t able to say “no” to interruptions like these. Rather than focusing their present audience, they indulge in a social comment or watch the latest trending video –   alone and outside of the conversation. When the only conversation partner you seem to have is your phone, you quickly find that those in the world around you aren’t paying attention to you either. For those who are developing their network or contacts, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Exuding Your Brand, Personal Branding Quick Tips, Personal Branding Trends Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Trend #9: Endorsements – Personal Branding Trends for 2013

April 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Endorsements

Unless you have completely gone off the grid, you have likely noticed a new feature of Linked In: Endorsements. In fact, you may have received or been asked to provide them. LinkedIn augmented their recommendations feature to allow others to identify the skills at which we excel. LinkedIn knows that external feedback comes with credibility that is hard to build when you are talking about yourself. This recent change is part of a larger trend that helps us validate and reinforce what we say about ourselves supported by the feedback from others. If you have used Yelp or TripAdvisor or other similar services, you understand the power of crowdsourcing, and likely make decisions based on the collective feedback of others. Crowdsourcing, once the domain of products, hotels and restaurants, is quickly coming to careerists. Delivering on your brand promise every day helps others understand who you are and what makes you exceptional. It makes it easier for them to provide consistent, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Branding Quick Tips, Personal Branding Trends, Web/Tech Tagged With: , ,

Trend #8: Teams – Personal Branding Trends for 2013

March 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment
teamwork

Personal branding has come a long way from when there were only five of us working in this field - but team branding is relatively new. And it’s hot. I am working with a number of leaders who are interested in knowing how their team is perceived among their constituencies, and how each team member contributes to the overall perception. These leaders are using branding tools to find out where their organizations stand. Thanks to advertising genius David Ogilvy, companies have been using branding to stand out and attract the attention of their ideal clients since the 1940s. Over the past decade, companies have been applying similar branding principles to their people, helping them unearth what makes them exceptional, and applying the knowledge to the company strategy. In the world of branding, the team has been the missing link; it is the connective tissue between the personal brand and the company brand. Many of the Reach-certified Personal Branding Strategists are implementing … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Branding Quick Tips, Personal Branding Trends Tagged With: , ,

Trend #7: Timelines – Personal Branding Trends for 2013

March 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment
personal branding trends timelines

When Facebook launched Timeline about a year ago, it sparked a fury. There were those who loved it, and those who thought it would mark the end Facebook’s rule over the realm of social networking. Facebook Timeline changed the default profile from a list of your most recent updates to a complete summary of your entire life since birth. Now it seems that we have grown accustomed to Timeline because there are a number of resources that use a similar technique to help you express your brand. ResumUp for example, takes your education and work experience, puts them in a timeline format, and adds other relevant information to create a compelling visual history of your work. Re.Vu allows you to import your LinkedIn profile and create an attractive timeline by incorporating images and infographics, augmenting the text-based content. Thinking of your career in this way allows you to better communicate the value you delivered and growth you achieved. To build the ideal timeline, maintain a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Branding Quick Tips, Personal Branding Trends Tagged With: , ,

Trend #6: QR Codes – Personal Branding Trends for 2013

March 8, 2013 by 1 Comment
william arruda qr code

I was in a neighborhood of Buenos Aires called Palermo SoHo recently and noticed that every storefront had a QR code on it. QR codes are popping up all over, and it’s not just in the hip neighborhoods of major cities. You can see them on billboards, print ads, coffee mugs, and most recently making appearances on resumes, business cards, and in all kinds of correspondence (see the back of my business card to the left). You can even get a custom QR code printed on a T-shirt or wristband to help direct people you meet to your personal website. According James Alexander and the cool folks at Vizibility.com, personal QR codes and Microsoft Tag barcodes are essential. These codes let you instantly share your mobile business card, and they send real-time text or email alerts whenever someone scans your code, including the organization name, type and location. Soon there will be QR codes on our name badges at networking functions, allowing people we meet to instantly add us to their … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Branding Quick Tips, Personal Branding Trends Tagged With: , ,

Trend #5: Pictures – Personal Branding Trends for 2013

March 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
picture personal branding trends 2013

The expression “A picture is worth a thousand words,” dates back to a 1911 newspaper editor, and Wikipedia nicely describes it as “The notion that a complex idea can be conveyed with just a single still image.” Graphic designers, architects and artists have always used portfolios of images to showcase their work. Now, career-minded professionals will increasingly use infographics to show the value they added to their workplace. Kinzaa is a site that allows you to build an infographic resume. Pinterest pinboards enable you to express your brand and your passions through images. Prezi lets you use pictures on an interactive whiteboard to convey your point of view and share thought-leadership with others. The traditional word-based resume or CV will be quickly replaced with pictures. In the ‘About Us’ section of visualize.me’s website they say: “We believe that the traditional text resume is boring, lengthy and long overdue for a makeover.” I agree. The movement … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Branding Quick Tips, Personal Branding Trends, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Do You Google You?

February 28, 2013 by 2 Comments
Computer business

When was the last time you did some good market research about your personal brand? They say that “social is for ideation; search is for confirmation”.  When someone searches for you, do they find confirmation that you are who you portray you are; that you are associated with your expertise and industry? Don’t you ever wonder how easily you come up in a search? Google constantly searches for the most relevant and recent information that conforms to a certain topic. So, Googling yourself is a great way to check how easily you and your brand can be found via the internet. Search not only for your name – search for where your profile shows up in social networks (Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter are most popular), blogs, video content, and even your website. When you check your personal brand, it’s important that you achieve top ten results. This can help you gauge your use of keywords and tags, and even point out some locations that you might want to target with … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Branding Quick Tips, Personal Branding Trends, Social Media Tagged With: , , , ,
«Older Posts